


Cracks in Reality

by foggywizard



Series: Never Again [2]
Category: Noblesse (Manhwa)
Genre: F/F, Lagus Tradio is an amoral asshole, childlike!Claudia, inadvertant drug abuse, mind altering drugs used on underaged girls
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2019-05-21 12:51:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14915711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foggywizard/pseuds/foggywizard
Summary: Today was such awonderfulday. Tradio-gaju had returned! Finally, Raskreia would be taken down as the useless figure-head she was, and Tradio-gaju would become lord.





	Cracks in Reality

**Author's Note:**

> AU in which Edian wasn't the only one Lagus was drugging.

Claudia and Ignes had always been close. From when they were children accompanying their fathers to the Lord's castle, enjoying the candies Tradio-gaju had made _just for them_ , to when Ignes had left Lukedonia with the others. They weren't traitors, no matter what the others thought. Once they came back, everyone would know. And then she and Ignes could be together again. Beautiful, insecure Ignes. The only person who understood.

But for now, she was stuck, acting in her father's stead, making sure the clan ran like a well oiled machine (thank goodness for Gejutel's help). Kept it ready for his return. She wasn't a leader, and yet she was stuck giving orders, acting like she knew what she was doing, pretending to be on Lukedonia's side (she was, just not in the way Raskreia and her supporters thought). It was stressful in the extreme, but it wasn't without its perks. Her dad had given her the recipe for the candy she loved as a child, and she'd been so, so _happy_. She'd thanked him profusely and he'd only chuckled, saying his only thanks would be her enjoying it every day and thinking of him. So she did. Couldn't stand to go a day without them, actually. Made her feel _awful_.

* * *

Today was such a _wonderful_ day. Tradio-gaju had returned! Finally, Raskreia would be taken down as the useless figure-head she was, and Tradio-gaju would become lord. She bowed to her father. He praised her. She was so happy to have done a good job. But it was all thanks to Gejutel assisting her. She never would have been able to do it otherwise. She told him as much.

"Oh-ho, my old friend has been helping you out then? Take me to him. I want to thank him." She was more than happy to. Being praised felt nice. Gejutel deserved this too. 

Entering the Landegre mansion, they found Gejutel reading by candlelight in the library. He seemed rather inattentive, so Lagus sent out a whip of energy, breaking the table in front of him (that seemed unnecessary). And then he sent one through his torso. Wait...what? That wasn't right...was it? "Oh, my...I was just playing around. I didn't think you would get _hurt_ by something like that..." Oh. That explained things. "It's been a long time, Gejutel K. Landegre. My old friend."

"Lagus. What are you doing here...?"

"Heh heh. You seem very surprised."

"Lagus Tradio. Why would a _traitor_ like you come back to Lukedonia?" Traitor? She'd thought that he'd been on their side. Wasn't that why he was helping her?

Dad laughed goodnaturedly. "How can you call me a traitor...? _Friend_. You should be careful of what you say." Gejutel grunted. There was a strange hiss coming from his wound. Why wasn't it healing? Even if nobles didn't have as efficient regeneration as werewolves, it still should have stopped bleeding by now. "I can't believe you got hurt from just a _joke_. Why have you become so _weak_? I was looking forward to reuniting with you, but seeing you in this state just makes me _sad_."

"Lagus. Do you feel no shame at all? You have changed much since we last met." No he hadn't though. Dad was still the same kind, loving man he always was, right? "How dare you say such things when you've stabbed and poisoned me?" ...Poison? Dad had...no, that's not right. Dad wasn't like that. He couldn't be. But still, Gejutel's wound wasn't healing.

Another burst of laughter. "Seeing you run your mouth in that state, you haven't changed one bit. It's so like you." It was more a Landegre trait in general, really. Delivering insults while staying elegant was an art the clan had long mastered. Regis hadn't quite gotten the staying elegant bit yet though. "So, What happened? I heard that your grandson has the soul weapon, so I thought you went into eternal sleep....Did you just give Regasus to him? And is that why you have become so weak? I'm curious as to how you can just hand over the soul weapon." 

Claudia wondered that too. How the current clan leaders alone were able to cope baffled her, but Regis was less than an eighth her age. He'd not even finished his bicentennial ceremony, and yet he was ready to take on clan leader responsibility? It didn't look like she'd get an answer to her questions though. Gejutel wasn't looking that well. He'd coughed up some blood, and was swaying in place. And yet Tradio gaju just laughed all the more in the face of this. This...this wasn't right. This was so out of character for her beloved father. Right? It had to be right.

"Anyway, seeing you alive like this brings me joy. I'm grateful. You took care of my daughter and clan, right? Claudia here told me they were able to survive, thanks to you."

Gejutel glared. "We believed that it was only you who'd betrayed us. Not your family." Well. That explains why he'd helped her.

Her father let out a sinister sounding chuckle. "Yes, I knew for a fact that if it were just me, you would protect my family." He continued, answering Gejutel's original question. "And I came here to show you everything."

An uneasy air filled the large room. "Show me...? What do you want to show me?" Gejutel's words were slow, hesitant. He didn't want to know the answer, but he had no choice but to ask. Lukedonia's future may well depend on it.

"I want to show you how I make Lukedonia mine." Lagus's eyes darkened, his eyes glowing red points in a hollow blackness. Claudia didn't know how to react to this. This...this was her dad... _right_? The one who'd loved her, cared for her? Yes, he wanted to help him with his goals, in whatever capacity she could, but they were starting to sound... _wrong_. 

"You're going to... make Lukedonia yours?" Gejutel was incredulous. Lagus couldn't be serious.

"Haha...That's right." 

"You're insane." That was the only explanation. Lagus hadn't always been this way. He'd once been an upstanding noble. A pillar of their community. Someone Gejutel'd looked up to in his youth. The idea that he'd always hidden this side....No. Unacceptable. Lagus had simply been alive too long, and now his mind was rotting, damaged by the unrelenting flow of time. His friend just wasn't in there anymore. And if he was...well, this was still more palatable than to think he'd been scheming all this time.

"How can you say that...? You are hurting my feelings." A lie. Lagus's tone conveyed too much amusement for it to be anything else.

"You wouldn't be doing this if you were sane." No. The Lagus he'd known would never have _thought_ of, let alone begun to enact, something like this. He'd had very much the same position in the Previous Lord's court as Gejutel had in Raskreia's. A wise mentor from a time gone by, to witness the change of Lord and guide them in their new duty. To think that someone so trusted, not just by the Previous Lord, but the Lord before him, would decay so much....

Lagus belted out a hearty guffaw. "You have not changed _at all_. Sorry to say this, but I'm not crazy." Which is exactly what he'd think regardless. He'd had this argument with Frankenstein more than once. "Lukedonia has become too weak. While the humans and werewolves were getting stronger, Lukedonia got weak. This happened all because we have shifted the balance of power in the world."

"What do you mean we shifted the balance?" Gejutel had a feeling that he didn't want the answer to that either.

"The strong have always controlled the weak. This has always been true, even now." Lagus explained in a matter-of-fact tone. "This even applies to animals. They feed off the weak."

Gejutel scoffed, "Is that what you've been meaning to say?" Such a horrid thought. They were _nobles_. They had no need to prey on the weak. No need to defend themselves. It was this very fact that gave them the _privilege_ of protecting those they found dear. And Lagus wanted to use that power to _force his will_ on the weak instead?

"Friend. Have you never thought that the strong controlling the weak was actually the balance of the world?" Yes. Gejutel had noticed. But, as much as they were part of the world, nobles still operated on different rules. "Have you never thought that us not being able to use our power however we please might be the reason for the shift in the balance?" 

Gejutel stayed silent. Did Lagus really not understand? The shift in balance _was the entire point_ of restricting their powers. Humans and werewolves would become more powerful. Become their equal. Lagus...the Lagus he knew would have understood.

"Think about it. Why do we nobles have the strongest power in the world? Do you really think we got this strength for no reason?" Gejutel's brow furrowed. Lagus...what had he gone through to make him think this way? "Why can't we use our power as we please? Why do we have to limit the power we were born with? Have you ever wondered about that?" He didn't have to. Gejutel _knew_ the answers. Why didn't Lagus?

Claudia was having difficulties following. What her dad said...it was...correct? Gejutel had always said differently, and he seemed to understand how the world works. But her dad was her dad, so he had to be right, right? Maybe both were right, and she was supposed to use her powers as she pleased to protect people?

"Look at the world today. Look at the humans who are most prosperous." Claudia'd not been out of Lukedonia in some time. She had no idea what her dad was talking about, but she'd listen all the same. "The ones who were weak before now think they are the rulers of the world." Gejutel'd said the world was ruled by no one. The idea that anything could control the entirety of the world was...silly. Even nobles couldn't do it, as strong as they were.

"For their gain, countless amounts of living things were killed by them along with destroying the world." The world was still here though. Where were they if not Earth? "To gain more power and to rule over each other, their fight never ends. But look at what they have accomplished!" Which was? Claudia was genuinely curious. Not that she could ask questions. That would be noisy. The other nobles always looked down on noisiness. "The weakest humans are really becoming the rulers of the world." Really? Because it sounded like the stronger humans would have kept them down, with how her dad was describing this. "So now, I will follow the order of the world. I decided to live longer and desire more power."

Gejutel's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "So what's your plan, Lagus?"

"I am going to change Lukedonia. And I will rule the world." Lagus sounded...genuinely excited. "I shall show you the start, my friend."

His friend had changed _so much_. Gejutel's eyes slid shut. Just like the world, nobles could also change. And the Lord chose to go into eternal sleep because he thought they couldn't. What a waste.


End file.
